AN OLD ENEMY
Suddenly over Fred's head there was a peculiar whistling. He had never
heard that sound before, but somehow he knew by instinct what it was. He
was under fire! Behind him were the shots, but the firing was wild and
at random. He plunged into the bushes now, for to do so was to choose
the lesser of two evils. He was fairly safe, so sheltered from the
bullets, since if they could not see him, the Uhlans would not be likely
to fire at him at all. And while it was certain that they could follow
him in and catch him if he stayed in the brush, he would delay them at
least, and the Russians were so near that they might hear the firing and
come up.
That came about even sooner than he had thought possible. He stopped,
panting. The Uhlans were close on his trail by this time, and he heard
them coming up. But then came a sudden shouting of orders, and, a
moment later, a furious fusillade that was answered from the Russian
side. Over the rattle of the firing, too, came a sound he remembered
well, though he had heard it only once before--the yelling of charging
Cossacks. For the second time the wild Russian horsemen had come to his
rescue in the nick of time!
But this time there was more of a fight, since the two little bodies of
horsemen were far more evenly matched than had been the case when
General Suvaroff had led his daring raid behind the German lines in the
effort to capture von Hindenburg. For five minutes the fighting was fast
and furious. Fred could hear the clash of steel against steel and the
spiteful spitting of revolvers and automatic pistols. Then the wild
Russian shout of victory arose, and he heard sounds of galloping fast
dying away. Even though he could see nothing, he knew which side had
won.
"Thank Heaven!" he said to himself. "I wonder if they couldn't chase
them and raid the culvert. There aren't so many troops there! Then we
could surely get Boris away from them."
But the first thing to do, of course, was to come out of his cover and
make himself known to his rescuers. There was a certain risk in even
that simple procedure, and Fred was not so carried away by the
excitement of the fight as to forget it. There was more than a chance
that if he broke out, the Russians would mistake him for some German who
had tried to escape by taking refuge in the brush, and that they would
shoot without waiting to make sure. But he had to take the chance, and
he minimized the risk as much as he could by tying his white
handkerchief to a stick and carrying it before him as he pushed his way
into the ditch.
He waved this as he emerged. At first no one saw him. Then a Cossack
spied him and sent his horse straight at him. Fred leaped aside as he
saw that the man meant to ride him down, and, shouting, waved his white
flag. He dodged the first assault, but the Cossack spun his pony around
in little more than his own length, and waving his dangerous lance, came
at him again. He shouted again, and waved his white flag harder than
ever. That would not have saved him, however, but just as the Cossack
lunged and Fred threw himself down, sure that he would either be speared
or trampled by the horse, an officer dashed up and struck up the lance
with his sword.
"Don't you see the white flag?" he roared. "We do not kill men who
surrender!"
"They say that the Germans are hanging every Cossack they capture," said
the man, sullenly.
"Never mind what they say!" said the officer. "Hello! That man is not a
soldier at all!"
"Neither soldier nor German!" cried Fred in Russian, springing up.
"Those Uhlans were chasing me! I have just escaped from the German
lines. I did not think that I should fare as badly among my friends as
among the enemy!"
"Nor shall you, friend!" said the Russian officer with a laugh. "So you
are a Russian? Well, you look as if you might be anything!"
"I'm afraid I do," said Fred, a bit ruefully. He could imagine, even
though he could not see himself, that the Russian was quite right. He
was caked with dirt. In the fall from the automobile, as he had
discovered while he was walking away from the wreck, he had sustained a
nasty cut over the eye, which, though it was not painful, had bled a
good deal. And this had made his appearance even worse than it had been
before. His clothes were torn, too.
"Who are you, and where do you come from?" asked the Russian.
In a few words Fred told his story. When he said that he had left Boris
Suvaroff a prisoner at the culvert, with a broken leg, the officer
started.
"Can't you go after him?" Fred pleaded. "They have very few men there.
You could sweep them away."
"Not with this force. And I should not dare to go so far without special
orders," said the officer. "We could not charge the culvert, and,
approaching it from this side, we should have to ride uphill. But I am
sure that when those in command know your story, a force will be sent to
rescue Prince Boris. Come with us now. I will get you a horse if you
are able to ride. The Uhlans left some behind!"
Fred could ride, and said so. And in a few minutes he was riding toward
the fires that twinkled before them, side by side with the Russian
officer, who was anxious to know all that Fred could tell him.
"That was splendid!" he cried enthusiastically when he heard how Fred
had discovered the real purpose of the Germans by his ruse in pretending
to be deaf and dumb. "And it means, too, that we will get some real work
to do here in this quarter. I thought at first that the army in the
north would get all the fighting. We have been sitting here for nearly a
week, doing nothing. This is the first skirmish we have had, for our
orders are not to bring on an action, but only to prevent the enemy from
coming toward us if they show any sign of attacking."
"If what I have heard is true, there will be an advance from this
quarter soon," said Fred. "If the Germans are to be outflanked, it must
be by the troops here. And that ought to mean as much fighting as anyone
could hope to get."
"That is what we are looking for," said the officer. "But you--you will
be glad of a rest for a time, I should think!"
"I want to get my cousin back," said Fred. "It was hard to leave him."
"It was the only thing to do. You saved his life as well as your own by
going. And one who saves a Suvaroff does a fine thing for Russia in
these days--if this Boris is like the rest of the breed."
"Oh, we have never known!" said Fred, suddenly remembering. "Did General
Suvaroff get back safely after he failed to catch General von
Hindenburg?"
"He did! He had less than a thousand men, and he rode for sixty miles or
more through a whole German army! He was intercepted but when he found a
German brigade lined up in his path, instead of trying to circle around
it, and so giving the Germans time to surround him, he cut right
through it!" answered the officer, smiling.
"That was splendid!"
"I don't think the war will show anything better!" said the Russian,
with enthusiasm. "He charged before the Germans knew that he was fairly
upon them, and the whole fight lasted less than ten minutes. Then our
fellows were through and riding for our lines. And the best of it was
that not more than fifty of our saddles were emptied. The Germans are
wonderful fighters, I believe. We shall have a hard time beating them.
But they fight too much by rule. A German cavalry commander would have
been brave enough to try to do that, but he would not have tried because
he would have known that it was an unsound plan."
"I wish Boris knew that his father was safe," said Fred, a little sadly.
"He has been worried, although he has said nothing."
"Eh--he might have known it! Yes, he got back safely enough. As to
whether he is safe now, that is another matter. He is in the thick of
the fighting around Gumbinnen, and he is not one of those generals who
stay in the rear. He is like Skobeleff. Have you heard of him?"
"He commanded at Plevna, against the Turks?"
"And in a good many other battles! Skobeleff, though he was in command
of the whole army, would insist always on being in the thick of the
fighting himself. He wore his white coat, and he rode a white horse. So
he was always to be seen by his own men and by the enemy. Perhaps he was
wrong, but soldiers will fight better for a general who shares their
perils. Skobeleff used to do impossible things, because he believed that
nothing was impossible that brave men made up their minds to do."
Fred thought of Russian generals in the war with Japan who might have
changed the whole course of that conflict had they had such ideas. But
he said nothing of this. Russian soldiers were mindful of that
disastrous war, he thought. And Fred had an idea that before this far
greater struggle was over, the world would have been forced to forget
the failures of Manchuria. Men who fought as he had seen Russians do
were not going to be beaten again.
Fred was mounted now on a big, rawboned horse that had lost its Uhlan
rider. He was so tired that he was swaying in his saddle, and the
Russian noticed this.
"Keep awake a little longer," he said, cheerily. "We haven't very much
further to go. In half an hour, I think, you can be in a real bed, with
sheets and blankets."
"I don't need anything like that," said Fred, rousing himself and
smiling. "I think I could sleep on a board that was studded with nails!
And I know that they could fight a battle all around me to-night without
waking me up when I once get to sleep."
"I'd like to let you stop here--we are within our lines now--but I know
the staff will want to see you and ask a few questions. And you have
done so much already for Russia that I believe you will want to do that
much more before you rest."
"Oh, a few minutes more or less won't make any difference!" said Fred.
He yawned hugely. "As long as I'm awake, I can make myself stay awake.
If I once let go, though, I promise you I'll be hard to rouse!"
There were more Russians about here than Fred had supposed. It was plain
that since Ivan had had any information as to the conditions here,
re-enforcements had been brought up, for it was not through outposts
that they were riding, but through a large body of troops. Tents
stretched in all directions and fires were numerous, dotting the fields
like stars. There were no woods here; it was open country again. To the
left Fred caught a glimpse of the silver sheen of a river reflecting the
starlight.
"How far are you going to take me?" asked Fred.
"To headquarters. We have less than half a mile to ride now. The
general will be glad to see you."
The Russian chuckled, and there seemed to be a hidden meaning in his
laugh. At any other time, when he was less weary, Fred would have
noticed that. He would have wondered at it, at least; he might even have
guessed its meaning. But now he only asked, quite idly: "Who is in
command of the troops here?"
"You will soon know," said the Russian, repeating his chuckle.
Fred did, indeed, soon get the answer to his question. They rode up to a
small farmhouse, ablaze with light, late as it was. The place was well
guarded. The Russian officer slipped off his horse.
"Wait one minute," he said. He went, and returned at once. Then he led
the way inside. And Fred, all weariness banished by the sight, stared
into the cold, evil eyes of Mikail Suvaroff, wearing his general's
uniform.